Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Armenian armed forces continue to escalate tensions along the contact line of Armenian-Azerbaijani troops by frequently violating the ceasefire regime.

Amid the OSCE monitoring on the contact line on October 9, the Armenian forces shot dead a junior sergeant of Azerbaijani armed forces.

As a result of shelling at the fighting position, 24 year-old Tural Ahmadov, who called on military service from Azerbaijan's Aghdam region, was killed.

The Azerbaijani side has opened a criminal investigation into the incident. The Defense Ministry expressed its condolences to the family of the deceased.

The Armenian armed forces have intensified the ceasefire violation on the contact line in the past two weeks. In September, Armenia troops shot dead 23-year-old lieutenant of Azerbaijani armed forces, Allahverdi Bakhishli and 19-year old soldier Keramet Shabiyev.

Armenian armed forces have aggravated tensions along the frontline by attacking the Azerbaijani positions since early 2014.

Despite the ongoing peace talks on resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Armenian armed forces continue to escalate the tensions on the contact line.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor.

Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions calling for its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.